Tiers of Love

chapter 1

A cold breeze hits the back of my neck as the manufactured winter air blows in my open window. Knowing I will be unable to sleep in this condition I reluctantly slip out of my sheets and walk to the open window. As I near it the chill spreads, covering every inch of me, prompting me to close the window in front of me. As soon as it's shut I wrap myself back up in my warm bed, drifting back off into a sleep.

I'm awoken by yelling on the other side of the penthouse I live in. The screams are deep and not something I haven't heard before. Ignoring my parents fighting I roll to my other side, covering my head with a pillow to block the growing noise out. It's not uncommon for my parents to already be fighting at 8 o'clock on a weekend. I'm pretty sure everyone's parents fight, mine just prefer to do it loudly.

'I hate you', 'you're the reason this isn't working', 'think of poor Claire' echo out from the hallway and into my previously peaceful bedroom. Sadly they don't end there, but in fact grow in volume and emotion.

My door opens and I see my mom's tear stained face as she nears my bed. She sits softly next to me and tucks my hair behind my ear as she speaks.

"I'm going into town sweetie, if you want to join me," her voice is soft and sad.

"Of course mama, give me a minute to get ready?" I try to cheer her up with the excitement in my voice, but she just smiles softly and nods as she stands and walks out.

I walk towards my bathroom and rub my eyes. I love my mom and I want to make her feel better, but sometimes I just don't know how to. It feels like the only work my father ever does is to hurt her.

I finish getting ready and take my hair out of the braid I slept in, separating the curls to look natural. I flip off the light and walk out, slipping on the shoes next to my door as I make my way down the hall. As soon as I get to the living area I tell my mom I'm ready to go, and we make our way out the door, and down the hallways of our apartment complex.

My mom and I ride down the elevator to the lobby in silence, never bringing up the mornings eventful activities. We walk down the embroidered earthy carpet towards the entrance doors. The complex opens up into the city on tier 8, a bustling part of town due to the electronic sales growing in recent times. The tiers are like rankings, they decide your job, salary, and access to certain areas of our our country, Cahntric. The "country," if you can even call it that is made up of twelve floors, eleven of which are tier rankings.

The city traffic makes it hard to hail a cab at this time of day, especially on weekends when the shops are busiest. My mom and I eventually catch a cab and take the 15 minutes ride to the conveyer. The conveyer is the elevator people take to travel up and down the tier floors, every floor except ten and eleven can be accessed without special authorization.

The ride down the conveyer isnt too long, and would be faster without stopping at the other tiers. Once we make it to tier 4 we walk out and into the wide opening to the market. The shopping center here is overly crowded, but captivating just the same. People of all kinds are here selling everything from handcrafted jeweler to designer jeans.

Tier 4 is known for its textiles and everyday wear, the residents here are creative and patient. They deal with many difficult people from higher tiers, most of which know absolutely nothing but money and a snarky attitude. As pretty as the market is, i've always wondered what the everyday life is like in a lower tier, not just the squeaky image they put up for guests.

I walk down the row of booths, examining each one carefully. There are so many things for sale here, and I dare not miss a single one.

I approach a booth selling handcrafted wood carved necklaces. They're all hanging neatly on racks, each one a gem in itself. My eyes settle on a small darkyly stained fox carving, looped into a white twine. My fingers gently brush over the intricatly crafted wood, it seems as if every inch of hair could move, whoever did this has a gift.

"Can I help you?" a voice says from above me

"I'm so sorry," I back up, "I didn't mean to mess anything up," I raise my head to look at the person in front of me, my eyes instantly meeting with his bright green ones.

"The fox huh?" he looks at me softly.

"Uhm, yes, it's beautiful. do you make these?" I ask timidly

"Yes I do, in fact, the fox is one of the favorite ones I've made," he smiles, "the fox is a power animal, representing great wisdom."

"How much for it?" I say as my hands run over the intricate designs once more.

"For you," he grins, "nothing."

I can feel the rush of blood to my cheeks as he says it, I cover them and smile. It's not common for me to interact with any boys since I'm at an all girls school.

"Lean over the counter" he says as he takes the fox pendant off of it's rack.

I let him latch it behind my back and feel his warm arms touch my shoulder as he rehooks the metal clasp. "Th-Thank you" I manage to stutter out.

"Of course miss sunshine, just promise me you'll take good care of it," he says squeezing my hand.

"Oh it's lovely," I smile, "I'll never take it off." My hands run over the wood that now sits right below my collarbones.

"It looks lovely on you," he admires, causing the butterflies in my stomach to stir. He looks at me cheerfully, I assume he's glad his work found a good home. "What tier are you," his question takes my attention from the gift around my neck.

"Oh I'm from eight," I say casually. The way he observes is intense, but surprisingly I don't at all mind it.

"Just visiting for the sales huh," he grins, "eight's a pretty high tier, I've heard the city there is lovely."

I smile, "it's very lovely, you've never been?"

"No, tiers lower than 5 aren't allowed to go up without a guest pass, and to obtain a pass I'd need a resident," he frowns slightly, "And as you can probably guess, a four like me doesn't have much reason to visit tier eight."

It makes me sad to hear the tightness in his voice, although he smiles through it. "Well I'm a resident, I'd be happy to show you around sometime."

He grins cheekily, bouncing on his heels. "I'd love that, when would you be able to?"

"I can go this weekend, around noon if you want to," my plans for this weekend consisted of reality TV and popcorn, but this should be much more fun.

"do you wanna meet down here around noon," he asks. I can tell he's planning every bit of it in his head.

"That sounds perfect," I continue, "Where do I meet you?"

"Claire!!!!" I hear my mom's voice ring out. I turn and see her approaching me, "sorry dear I had no idea where you'd went," she seems to be slightly panicked.

"Sorry Mama," I smile and look back towards the boy.

"Well then have a good day ma'am. If you wanna see anything other than booths, be sure to check out the cinema down Brookman hall"

"Thank you," I respond restraining myself from laughing. I smile to myself as I plan my adventure for tomorrow. Brookman hall, this should be fun.